Hebgen 2012

April was a saint and stayed home with newborn twins while William and I got out of her hair and headed up to join the rest of the family for a week at the cabin.









The cousins had a lot of fun together.


Umm… yeah… this seating arrangement lasted about 5 minutes.



There was a brief crisis when William was stung by a bee (bees already his arch enemies long before he was ever stung by any).

You can see the injection site there on his ear. And below is a vide of the aftermath. William handled it pretty well, though Grandpa had already calmed him down by this point.

The Williams and I hiked up to visit Dutch Henry.





We had tons of fun on the new pier.

William didn’t go anywhere without “farmer hat.”


And we had tons of fun on the boats.

Hebgen 2011 and Bar Stories Part II

We spent another nice vacation this year up at the cabin. But before we could go up there I had to get the Utah Bar Exam out of the way. Funny story about that (but not funny at the time). The night before the first day I got almost no sleep, thanks in large part to some recent changes to Utah’s fireworks laws. Apparently you can now set off fullblown bombs and missiles for nearly the entire month of July. Thank you Tea Party. So, going into the first day I was already sleep deprived.

The next night I climbed into bed around 10:00 pm in order to get a solid night’s rest before the second full day of testing. My parents were out of town and April was hanging out with a friend so I was all alone. As I was starting to doze off, the doorbell rang. I got dressed, went down stairs, and opened the door. There was no one there. I climbed back into bed started to drift off. The doorbell rang again. I climbed back out of bed, got dressed again, and looked out again. Nothing but darkness. This could only mean one thing: doorbell ditchers! (either that or the Raven). Let’s just say that these kids clearly picked the wrong house with the wrong guy in it on the wrong night.

I slipped out the back door and hid in the bushes near the front yard. When the teenagers struck a third time, I pounced. I caught up with them after about a block. I didn't know I was in that good of shape. When I finally caught the little neighborhood punks, they were a bit taken aback by the extent of my fury. After a very “nice” long chat that included a discussion of the ramifications of trespassing (I was fresh up on the elements after all) they decided that they would not doorbell ditch me any more. The next day I finished the bar about 40 minuets early. They wouldn't let us leave before time was called so I took a nap right there in the test hall. I was that tired. Suffice it it to say I have never been so glad to get away to the cabin.

This year was particularly fun because we had the entire extended Garff Family up there, including our friends, the Brays, who came all the way from England.

Now that I see the picture, I realize that he didn't like this very much.

William really liked the frog we caught. It hung out on the top of his head.

Now whenever we say the word “frog” he points to his head. He also now puts his stuffed animal frog on top of his head. I guess he has figured out that the top of his head is where frogs go.

While at the cabin William discovered that he loves boats. He has been obsessed with them ever since. He calls everything that looks like a boat, “boat” and he pushes his toys around the carpet making boat sound effects. William’s namesake observed that this boat infatuation is a “genetic flaw,” all Garff’s seem to have it.

Can’t wait till next year.

What Would YOU Do With 2 1/2 Days Off?

Steven would spend it at the cabin. Steve’s family spends two weeks at a cabin in West Yellowstone every summer. It wasn’t easy for him to get the time off, and he had to work 10-12 hour days and weekends to do it, but he was very glad to get a long weekend at his very favorite place with his very favorite people.

Luckily, Liam and I don’t have that problem. We went up to SLC a week earlier to have a baby shower for Katie and bridal shower for Kristi, two of our favorite people. The showers entailed lots of presents and lots of food and fun.

At Katie’s shower, Liam met a girl who may possibly become the love of his life, Kambree (the daughter of our friend, Stacy). He was all over her.

He has a thing for girls with bows as you can see from his date with Macy.

We spent LOTS of time with uncles and cousins. Some of his favorite times were spent looking at the cats (who wouldn’t stay close enough for a picture) or the birds (the turkey, Christmas, and Uncle Arthur, on the other hand, would)

He thought hanging out with cousin Lucy Porter was hilarious.

Cousin Nick loves babies and was great at keeping Liam entertained.

Will had fun with us too. Will and Liam LOVED hanging out together.He begged to go to Target with us, since it’s his favorite store. The whole way there, Will was making William laugh hysterically. When we got to the store, I asked Will what he did to make Liam laugh…he was pushing on Liam’s face with his hand.

Liam even got to play a real piano with Spencer.

But by far, the favorite cousin was Daniel. Liam couln’t get enough of him.

Everytime they were together, Liam would laugh and talk and giggle and reach for his new bff.

And after a week without Dad, my favorite part was when we got to see Steven again.

Liam’s favorite part of the trip, other than playing with his cousins, was the beach.

We even let him get good and dirty.

He was NOT a fan of the boat.

Grandma and Grandpa Garff even watched Liam so we could go out on a triple date with the other Garff boys and their significant others.

The Williams had lots of good fun.

The beard was especially interesting for little baby hands.

Liam learned to brush his budding teeth (which have been threatening to break through for nearly 6 months now).

Liam also started saying “Babwaba” whenever we feed him banana-flavored puff snacks. We think he means, “banana”.

And, my personal favorite, saying “Mama” (which mostly happens when he is sad, but heart-wrenching, nonetheless.)

The separation anxiety, on the other hand, was less than heart-wrenching. Especially when he decided to “nap” from 7-9 pm and cry for mom and dad until 11 or 12. Needless to say, we were all tired in the mornings.

Makes us glad to be back home.